Female Monarchs and Merchant Queens in Africa. Nwando Achebe

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СКАЧАТЬ true. The African understanding of God is more complex and nuanced than mere binary classifications. In reality, God is distant, or separated from the affairs of human beings, only in the sense that God is perceived as being too big to behold by these humans, and therefore they cannot understand God. This paradoxical complementarity of the closeness yet distance of God is expressed by the Nupe in their conceptualization of God (Soko). They say, “God is far away. God is in front. God is in the back.”⁷

       The Gender of God in Africa: How God Became He

      In the Judeo-Christian framework God is presented as male. In this Western patriarchal religious tradition, the female persona of God in Africa is suppressed. In addition, African theologians and scholars have attempted to prove that the European missionaries did not introduce the concept of God to the continent; thus, many of them equated the belief in an African Supreme God in all three thousand–plus nations in Africa to belief in a Christian God who is imagined as male. This assessment spilled over to their non-African counterparts, who in their writing and interpretations of God also necessarily adopted male pronouns and gender. P. J. Paris, a theologian specializing in African religion, for instance, argues that the African God is the same as the Christian God, who is regarded as the father of our Lord Jesus Christ, not His mother.⁸

      The true conceptualization of God in Africa is actually much more nuanced, much more complex. In several African societies, the supreme divinity is neither male nor female. However, referring to God in English has been complicated by the fact that African languages do not have gender-specific pronouns—African pronouns are gender-neutral. This gender neutrality has however been lost when African names for God have been translated into European languages. The result is that the genderless African Creator God has been written about with the pronoun “He,” a handicap that owes its origins to the gender-specific nature of these languages. In consequence, translations of African theology into the missionary/colonial languages of English, French, and Portuguese produced a discourse about God in Africa in which God became male.

       The Metaphor of God

      Nevertheless, African metaphors for God do not necessarily reflect the ways in which theologians or religious historians of Africa write about God. For the Zulu, Swati, Xhosa, Basotho, Batswana, Bapedi and Barotse, Shona, Kalnga, Ndau, Sena, Venda, Tsonga, Ihambane, Herero, and Ndebele, and the three thousand–plus peoples that inhabit the African continent, the names for God are gender-neutral. Indeed, most African societies believe that the world was created by a genderless Creator God. Among the Diola of present-day Senegambia, the genderless Great God is called Emitai. The Igbo Great God of eastern Nigeria, Chukwu (or Chineke), is likewise neither male or female. The Ewe and Fon Creator Deity, Mawu (female) Lisa (male), exhibits both male and female qualities or principles. For the Ga of Ghana, Ataa Naa Nyonmo is a combination of Ataa (old man) and Naa (old woman). Thus, Ataa Naa Nyonmo translates into “Father Mother God.”⁹ The Akan also believe in a genderless God, Kwasi Asi a daa Awisi (“The Male-Female One”).¹⁰

      Some African societies regard their Creator God as female. For instance, the Creator God of the Tarakiri Ezon of the Niger Delta region of Nigeria, Tamarau, is considered female and her name means “our Mother.” She is sometimes also called Ayebau, which means “the Mother of the world.” For the Krobos of Ghana, God—Kpetekplenye—is also female. She is considered to be the “Mother of all big and wonderful things.”¹¹ The southern Nuba, who have a matrilineal system of descent, also personify the Supreme God as female. According to comparative religious scholar Geoffrey Parrinder, “The southern Nuba . . . refer to God as ‘the Great Mother’ and when praying beside a dying person they say, ‘Our God, who has brought us into this world, may She take you.’”¹²

      Mwari is the most common name for God among the Shona of Southern Africa. The metaphors surrounding Mwari exist in closest association with the female principle. For instance, the metaphor for God most commonly used among the Shona is Mbuya (grandmother). The VaHera substitute Mbuya for Mwari when they refer to Mwari’s powers of creation and fertility. Runji is another God as mother metaphor used to depict the Creator God. This Shona word means “needle,” which, like lightning, metaphorically sews the heavens and earth together. The craft of sewing (kusona) among the Shona, moreover, is not only traditionally associated with women: all women are expected to know how to sew.¹³

      The female image of God is also reflected in the Shona metaphor for God as muvumbapasi (molder or fashioner of things). Another popular metaphor used for God among the Shona is musikavanhu. This metaphor speaks to the fact that God is both male and female. Among the Shona, the word kusika is associated with the kindling of fire with two sticks. One of the sticks has a hole in it, in which grass is placed, and the other stick, musika, is twisted in the hole until fire is created. This fire-making tool symbolizes male and female organs.¹⁴ The female image of God is also expressed in metaphors that depict God as dziva/dzivaguru and chidziva chopo. These metaphors associate God with water. Water is regarded by the Shona as a symbol for the universal mother, who is the source of all life. The Shona also have metaphors that clearly depict God as male. One is sororezhou/wokumusoro. Sororezhou means “elephant head” or father, and wokumusoro means “he who dwells on high.” Thus, in Shonaland, God is both male and female.¹⁵

       The Genderless or Dual-Gender African God

      Among the Malagasy of Southern Africa, the Supreme God is Zanahary or Andriamanitra. The source of life, creator of all things, and the founding and primary ancestor of the Malagasy, Zanahary is believed to be both male and female. She/He is both celestial and terrestrial. The earthly Zanahary created humans from clay or wood, and the heavenly Zanahary breathed life into them. Zanahary is a supreme judge of moral justice. She/He judges tangena¹⁶ ordeals and distinguishes between the innocent and the guilty. Zanahary also sees in the darkness as well as in the light.¹⁷

      In the western part of the continent live the Diola of Casamance, who call the Great God Emitai. Emitai is both male and female. She/He is believed to have “made everything, even the little ants.”¹⁸ She/He is all-knowing, the provider of the necessities of life, and a source of aid in times of trouble. Emitai is closely associated with rain and fertility, She/He communicates with humans through dreams and visions and selects certain people to reveal Her/His moral teachings.¹⁹

      The Dogon of Mali, neighbors of the Senegambia and the Diola, refer to the Creator God as Amma. Amma is the maker of the earth, life, fertility, and rain.²⁰ The word amma, like many African words, has more than one meaning. In addition to referencing the Dogon Supreme God, the word can also mean “to grasp, to hold firm, or to establish.” The Dogon believe that Amma holds the world firmly in both hands. Although commonly written about as male, the metaphor of Amma as the God who gives life and fertility invokes the female principle. To this end, the Dogon consider Amma to symbolize both male and female principles. Amma is therefore more appropriately characterized as genderless or as being of dual gender.²¹

      The Maasai, Embu, Meru, and Gĩkũyũ of Kenya call their genderless Great God Ngai. Ngai created the world and is sometimes referred to as female, as is suggested in the saying, “Naamoni aiyai,” which means “The She to whom I pray.” Ngai manifests in two forms: Ngai Narok, the good and benevolent Ngai, who is represented as black; and Ngai Na-nyokie, the angry Ngai, who is represented as red. In neighboring Tanzania, among the Haya people their Great God, Wamara, rules the universe. Wamara is neither male or female, and Her/His role is not gender-specific. Wamara is supreme among all other deities and spirits and is the sovereign of the souls of the dead. Haya women play a central role in the worship of Wamara. The new moon sacrifice performed in Wamara’s honor is marked СКАЧАТЬ